Coffee has been with us for centuries. It has rescued us from our drowsiness, given us a touch of love in the morning, been the best pairing for a book, in short, the best excuse to go out with someone we really like. But throughout all these years, coffee has historically given us much more than that. Today, we want to share 10 historical facts about coffee.
Have you ever wondered where the word Coffee comes from? Because it is actually so common in our vocabulary that we almost never ask ourselves about its origin. Well, let me tell you that it was not always called that. Over the years, the word has changed. The beginning of this word comes from the Arabic βQahhwat Al-bunβ which meant Arabic wine, although βQahwaβ also translates as stimulating or invigorating. It was common among Europeans to call it Arabic wine, then it changed in countries like Turkey where they used to call it βkahvehβ, then in Holland they called it βkoffieβ, later it became βCaffeβ in Italian.
African tribes had known about coffee since ancient times. They ground the beans and made a paste that they fed to animals to increase their strength and energy. Thus, its cultivation began to spread to Arabia, where it began to gain popularity, taking advantage of the Islamic prohibition of alcohol.
Did you know that we wouldn't know about coffee if it weren't for the failed attempt to ban it? In the 17th century, coffee wasn't so warmly welcomed by Khair Beg, an Egyptian from the Ottoman Empire. He feared that coffee would foment opposition to his rule by bringing men together and allowing them to argue unfairly. For the next 13 years, coffee was declared indecent, becoming for Catholic priests "the bitter invention of Satan." Until 1524, when the ban was lifted by the Turkish Sultan Slim, it is said that Pope Clement VIII finally tasted coffee and decided it was a Christian and Muslim beverage.
The first coffee shop in the world opened in Constantinople in 1475, which only admitted deputies and intellectuals, for many years the coffee shops were very exclusive, after this in 1645 the first coffee shop was opened in Venice which was more accessible to the public, then in 1650 the first coffee shop was opened in England where it became so popular that in 1675 there were already more than 3,000 coffee shops, the coffee shops were the place where liberal ideas were born where pamphlets by philosophers and scholars were distributed, after a while King Charles II ordered these coffee shops to be closed because crimes of offenses against the king occurred. 
In 1583, LΓ©onard Rauwolf, a German physician, botanist, and explorer, undertook a 10-year journey through the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia in search of supplies of medicines and herbs. He noticed the existence of this great drink that relieved stomach ailments. He was the first Westerner to notice this beverage. The most curious thing was the way it was consumed: an inky black drink that was drunk in the morning from a porcelain cup and passed around from one glass to another. Thanks to Leonard, coffee was introduced to Western Europe.
Do you know who Gabriel Mathieu is? Well, he was the one who brought the coffee plant to America, against all odds, storms, and pirates. Thanks to this man, who used the limited water he had on his ship to harvest the coffee plant, the plant was able to reach Martinique, a French island in the Caribbean, safely from France. Fifty years later, 19 million plants had already been cultivated in America.
In 1689, the first coffee shop in America opened in Boston. Coffee gained popularity after the Boston Tea Party, when the British threw tea into the river as a symbol of the British crown in an act of protest against Great Britain, a precursor to American independence.
During the American Civil War, it became even more popular as coffee beans were the main food supplement available to soldiers.
In 1730, the British brought coffee to Jamaica, where today the most expensive and famous coffee in the world is grown, cultivated in the Blue Mountains, costing between 50 and 60 euros per quarter-kilo packet.
Coffee has become the most consumed beverage worldwide, including in the Nordic countries, the United States, Italy, and Spain. The largest coffee producers are Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia.
The history of coffee is still a work in progress, but the best part is that the best stories are created and told around it, because for centuries, with a cup of coffee in our hands, we have shared those moments of happiness, wisdom, and friendship, which will remain etched in history.